


Snared in Iron Silk

by laces_of_life



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Angst, F/M, post empire of storms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-09 04:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14709470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laces_of_life/pseuds/laces_of_life
Summary: Yo, Maeve is a mean bitch, watch as Fenrys proves it. Drama and angst and pain and, most of all, feels. Do you like it when your reading makes you suffer? Well come on in~





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Are you supposed to tag and note the warnings of things that haven't happened yet but will in later chapters? I'm not sure and it seems spoilery and almost constrictive so I shall not. All such jazz shall be updated as needed with each installment. Enjoy.

I’m coming apart at the seams. That's what happens when every cell of your body is screaming at you to stop, to turn around and run - when every cell in your body is  _demanding_  that you proceed, to obey and fulfill. My soul is shredding apart and there isn't a single mark on my flesh to show for it. As the very wrongness of that sings through me accompanied by a fine shudder that I fail to contain.

My eyes shut tightly and I hang my head with the knowledge that that won't be the only thing I fail to contain before the end.

I've long wondered what would be the end of me. Now, as I raise my gaze to the iron forged door in front of me, I know that it was always going to be her.

With an internal snarl, I rap my knuckles twice against the door. I wait for a few moments, even though I know there won't be a reply. She has no way of knowing it's not Cairn or Maeve. My gut twists at the thought that she'll wish it had been.

On that self-pitying thought, I slip a hand into my pocket and pull out a heavy metal key. My eyes are on the ground and in the next moment I'm on the other side of the door, gently closing it with my back to the rest of the room.

"Fenrys." A soft female voice, full of relief and worry in equal measure.

A harsh exhale forces it's way past my lips as she speaks, as the weight of this iron  _room_  presses down on me. The sound of movement has me pocketing the key as I straighten up and turn.

I've seen it all before. The iron room. The iron furnishings. The double-sided reinforced mirror inlaid on one of the walls. Grey bedding. Grey, grey, grey. And there, standing to the side of the bed is Aelin.

In an instant I drink in every detail about her. The dark circles under her eyes and the way her bones are starting to cut against her skin. Her hair pulled back into one of her usual braids. The loose dark gray pants and tunic set. And finally the metal, the  _iron_ , shackles around her wrists, ankles and throat.

Our eyes meet and I stop breathing for a moment as everything in my chest goes tight. Even diminished as she is by her surroundings and bonds, her eyes still hold her fire. Something else flickers behind her gaze and I can see her guard coming up as her fingers curl slightly at her sides.

I realize that I've been silent too long. So I open my mouth to speak but find that I don't know quite what to say. I draw in a ragged breath as I rack my brain for the right words. All of the  _wrong_  words roil like acid in my gut.

"Wow, you look like crap." One hip cocked out to the side as she makes a show of regarding me from head to foot. But this isn't the usual armor of smugness that I've seen her adorn so many times before. I blink once, slowly, and realize that she's trying to protect herself. She's trying to put  _me_  at ease.  _She's_  protecting  _me_.

"I would burn this world to the ground for you." The words come out sounding harsh as my eyes start to burn, my own fists in tight balls at my sides.

The shock that flickered across her expression in the next few moments didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was the genuine warmth and small happy chuckle under her breath that accompanied it. One of her hands came up as she rested her fingers against her lips, her  _smiling_  lips, as she spoke.

"You remind me so much of him." She must have seen the confusion in my eyes because she continued. "Aedion." A spark of what I could only call mischief slide behind her own gaze. "When we were young, I got banned from a library for accidentally burning some things and..." another soft chuckle as she stepped forward and leaned her side against the post of the bed, "he said maybe one day he would burn it to the ground."

"I... that's..." I could feel the heat blooming on my cheeks as I tried to regain my bearings. I rubbed a hand along the back of my neck, a small smile tugging at my lips despite myself. "Thank you."

"And no matter what," her words laced with the steel will that she wielded such force, "that will not change."

She didn't need to say it. The look in her eyes said it all.  _No matter what she makes you do, it won't change how I feel about you. Which is fondly, you idiot._

"You cannot imagine how much I wish that were true." My voice breaks on the last words and the hand at my neck falls lifeless back to my side. "Gods above..." The words were barely louder than a breath as a single hot line streaked down my cheek.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being in Fenrys' head is exhausting and depressing. I need a nap, some hot chocolate and Kingdom of Ash.

The defiant gleam in her gaze made it clear that she didn't believe me for even a second. Her stubborn obstinate will shows in the way she squares her shoulders now. Like she's readying herself for a fight. Her guard was ten miles high and climbing. I knew she was wrong but a part of my heart believed her regardless. I could promise the most heinous actions and she'd shield our growing friendship from every one of them.

 _You fight for me, when it would be far easier not to._  Once again, in so few minutes, I found myself wishing that I could reduce all of the madness that surrounded her to cinders.

The way she narrowed her eyes at me, it was like an accusation. As if I'd dealt an insult by ever thinking she'd do otherwise.

"I knew something like this was a possibility." Her words were even as she raised her chin ever so slightly. "Unless you can honestly tell me that the shit you're about to do to me is of your own volition." Her words hung in the air. A question that wasn't a question, the answer so clear it refused to even be an answer.

She was my answer. And I - I...

 _I need to get out of this room._  Those words ring through my mind as I pressed my back against the door that I'd barely stepped away from. My breath is coming in short jagged gulps as one of my hands gropes for the door handle. I gritted my teeth against the sharp jabs of pain that lanced up my spine at the attempt to flee.

My eyes are still locked with hers when my fingers curl around the handle. I can feel a sob climbing up my throat. I try to shove it down, at least until I'm out of here. Breaking in front of Aelin is something I could live an eternity without doing. This was all wrong. I was supposed to be protecting her.  _This is all wrong._  

Then the sob does break free. I can't tell if I'm rigid or shaking, together or apart. I can't be here. I can't exist. I can't be locked in this room. And yet.

"It's locked." A low snarl slipped past my bared teeth, my own will flaring up as I fisted the hand that had just tried to open the door and thumped it back against the cursed iron thing. My head tilts to the side back against the door but my gaze remains with her. Looking away from her has always been difficult and I find that I'm no match for that particular desire at the moment.

"I want to help... if I can." Her words are soft and almost hesitant. There's new pain in those eyes as she slowly raises her hands out, with her palms up, towards me. "Tell me..." Then one side of her lips kicks up and her voice holds an undertone of mischief. "or I'll have to beat it out of you." As if gaining strength from her own words, she chuckles as her whole expression became one of pure Aelin arrogance. "And we both know who would win."

I can't help it. I laugh as well. Even diminished by the bonds on her, the prison pressing down around her that's making the simple act of breathing difficult for me... At that moment, I see her power. I see the fire of the Goddess Mala herself.

"You're a queen." Soft warm words as my own lips tug into half a smile. If anyone was going to bring this world down it was going to be this woman.

"I know." She grins so wide and true it feels like I'm turned upside down. My lips press together and I can feel my throat bob. My feet somehow manage to step away from the door and toward Aelin. If she could face this, then I owed her nothing less as well.

It feels like nothing more then a moment later that I'm standing just a foot away from her. Her head is tilted back just a bit, her eyes never leaving mine. Somehow that feels important.

Her hands are still in front of herself, palms up. I have to meet her halfway. I keep telling myself those words as I raise my left hand. It stops just a breath away from touching. I can't touch her first.  _I can't._

The fingers on her right hand close the distance between us and curl around my own. The shudder that rocks through me isn't entirely unpleasant and my eyes shut for a long moment as it passes.

" _I. Hate. This._ " I open my eyes to look back down at Aelin again and the words are forced and harsh as I push them past my own lips.

 _They'll find us._  She gave my hand a small squeeze, the undeniable belief in her unspoken words etched across her expression. "Now..." she purred and her body relaxed, "tell me."

"Tell you what?" My voice felt strange and somewhere in my thoughts, I realized that she had an iron grip as strong as our surroundings on my hand. No escape, only hell.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue in light reproof. She was still smiling and relaxed though, as she used the index finger of her left hand to tap the tip of my nose a few times. "What you need to do. What I need to do to help you."

"I have a choice." Tightly clipped words as I stared down at her now, my own gaze hardening into a dark dangerous sheen.

"How delightfully awful." I saw a flash of her canines in the grin from her this time.

"I break one of your bones." I don't give myself time to think about my words. They needed to be spoken, so they would be.

"Which one?" She sounded more amused then she had this whole time.

"My  _choice_." The last word came out as half a laugh.  _A choice._  As if I would ever have a hand in deciding Aelin's pain. " _Or_ ," the word sounds like broken glass against my skin. "you can do something instead."

"Something as in...?" She shook her head slightly as she continued to gaze up at me curiously. I tried to pull my hand out of hers but she holds firm, giving me another squeeze. "I'm guessing it's not to break one of  _your_  bones." The smile I feel doesn't reach my expression.

"I can't tell you. You have to  _choose_  to do so on your own." She kept a firm grip on my hand as she quickly sorted through everything.

"You can't...  _tell_  me," she tilted her head to the side slightly. "but there has to be a way for you to let me know... otherwise it wouldn't be much of a choice for you."

My hand tightened around hers for the first time.

"Let me know, however you can." Her thumb stroked reassuringly against the skin of my hand in hers. "I trust you." Her next words were playfully cocky and accompanied by a single arched brow. "And I'm pretty good at figuring things out."

I stare down at her. The moments stretch out in front of me and it feels like they're taunting me with their infinite feeling but fleeting reality. I have no idea how many have passed by the time I exhale in a long slow breath. I finally shut my eyes as I bent my neck.

Our foreheads press gently together as I bring my free hand up. The tips of my fingers barely graze her jaw. She's still beneath me but it's not out of fear. I can feel her curious gaze, her wondering mind.

I start to shake my head slowly, causing our noses to brush against each other. I try to keep my breathing steady but the tightness in my chest tells me that I must be failing. Our lips only just barely don't touch and my fingers gently glide down to give the barest ghost of a caress across her lips.

I feel more than hear her soft surprised inhale against my fingertips.

"Oh."


End file.
